Considering it costs $1 million for every second of footage of Beowulf that sends the budget immediately to $113 million and I know it didn't just stop there since there is a lot more than just animation to do on this flick. Perhaps consider Beowulf fell just shy of Bee Movie's marketing efforst managing to place the Scandinavian warrior's face everywhere Seinfeld's little bee wasn't. Now, does a $30 million opening weekend effort make up for that?

The Polar Express was said to have cost $165 million to make and ended up pulling in $176 million domestically and another $124 million from the foreign markets. I am not sure if Beowulf has enough steam to duplicate the Polar Express numbers and I can only assume the budget was higher.

Beowulf opened to $10.4 million on Friday and Steve Mason at Fantasy Moguls estimates it heading to $30.17 million once all is said and done. Our very own Box-Office Oracle slapped it with a $28.3 million estimate, which ain't looking too bad.

The other newcomers this week are Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium starring Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman, which pulled in $3.08 million heading toward a $10 million opening and then Love in the Time of Cholera is hovering at the #10 spot with $580,000 on Friday heading toward an estimated $1.85 million weekend.

Old friends include the continuing battle between Bee Movie and American Gangster. This time the battle for the #2 and #3 spot with Gangster taking Friday with $3.8 million, but Bee Movie's $3.43 million is expected to grow a little more than Gangster's once the weekend is said and done giving it the runner-up position.

No Country for Old Men moves into the top ten eyeing the #7 slot with an estimated $2.81 million for the weekend, and it looks like The Game Plan is finally going to be leaving the top ten as it is looking at $1.18 million for the weekend, just shy of Cholera's take.

Stay tuned for Sunday when Laremy will recap the entire weekend.